Distributed solar is becoming increasingly popular as a source of electric energy in the United States and around the world, however, despite its clear value proposition, for some potential customers, the aesthetics of conventional rooftop solar may be preventing adoption. To capture this segment of consumers, various building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing systems have been proposed.
Unlike conventional rooftop solar where full-sized solar panels are installed with mounting hardware over an existing roof surface, in BIPV systems the power generating elements are built into roof surface components. For example, roofing tiles that contain photovoltaic elements may be integrated with standard roof tiles to create a uniform aesthetic while allowing customers to enjoy the same financial and environmental benefits of generating their own solar energy that conventional solar owners enjoy.
One challenge of BIPV roofing systems is achieving visual uniformity. In various prior art BIPV roofing systems, the active solar roof portions are so visibly distinct from other roof materials that it is easy to tell which tiles contain solar and which do not. This creates a non-uniform aesthetic with stark contrast between active and non-active sections of the roof.
This problem of visual mismatch, however, is not limited to BIPV versus non-BIPV sections of the roof. Even within a single roof tile and/or BIPV roofing module, the solar cells or active solar regions are clearly distinguishable from the other surrounding materials. This is due in part to edge setback constraints that impose a fixed, non-active edge border around active solar portions of solar roof tiles or BIPV roofing modules. Therefore, there exists a need for a solar roof tile or BIPV roofing module that ameliorates deficiencies of prior art BIPV roofing systems.